“On the night of October 1st, 2017, a gunman opened fire from a hotel room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel into the 22,000 persons crowd at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival in Las Vegas, Nevada, killing 58 people and injuring more than 500. The gunman fired more than 1,100 rounds of ammunition in 11 minutes, using semi-automatic rifles modified with a dangerous firearm accessory designed to dramatically accelerate the rate of gunfire, commonly known as “bump fire stocks.”

These devices are intended to circumvent the restrictions on possession of fully automatic firearms in the Gun Control Act of 1968 and the National Firearms Act of 1934 by allowing an individual to modify a semiautomatic rifle in such a manner that it operates with a similar rate of fire as a fully automatic rifle. While often marketed as a novelty item for recreational shooters, bump stocks and similar devices that accelerate the rate of fire of a semiautomatic firearm are extremely dangerous and pose a substantial risk to public safety.

Please take a minute to send in a comment to the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Bureau. They are accepting comments until January 25, 2018.”

The announcement is followed by a sample comment that calls on the devices to be banned and which states, in part:

“In the absence of action by Congress, ATF should issue a new rule clarifying that the definition of ‘machinegun’ in the National Firearms Act of 1934 includes conversion devices like bump fire stocks that convert a semi-automatic rifle into the functional equivalent of a fully automatic rifle. In creating this rule, ATF must take into account the toll of gun violence on communities like Las Vegas, in terms of injuries, loss of life, and the financial loss to businesses in the communities that are affected.”

Pro-gun groups have sent mixed messages on bump stocks — at times saying they should be left unregulated and, at others, saying they should be regulated but not banned.

Click here to access the federal site at which you can learn more and submit comments.